No plans for Aust layoffs: Sun

A spokesperson for Sun Microsystems Australia said that the company was making selected workforce adjustments in targeted areas to help boost revenues for the coming financial year, but there were no plans to lay off staff here "at this stage".

Sun went through a small round of layoffs in the US last Friday and another round there is expected, perhaps as early as this week.

One US channel source said Sun still had basically the same head count as a US$11 billion company as when it was an US$18 billion company.

A second channel source said that up to 300 people were laid off last week and more layoffs could be coming this week, especially on the sales side. The source also expressed concern that Sun might be laying off engineers.

In an emailed statement, an Sun spokesperson confirmed that the company was making "selected workforce adjustments in targeted areas of the company" to meet revenue growth goals it wants to achieve by the fourth quarter of fiscal 2004. The "strategic realignment" is an ongoing business practice that allows Sun to allocate resources according to business priorities, the spokesperson said.

Another Sun spokesperson said there was no company-wide reduction-in-force going on. In the last week or so, Sun has moved engineering resources between projects as old projects expire and new ones show promise, while others have been moved around to improve their training, the spokesperson said.

Speaking to CRN at the SunNetwork show in San Francisco, Pat Sueltz, executive vice president of Sun Services, said she does not plan to lay off any Sun Services staff. However, Sun is always examining the operations of its business units and does head count reductions by unit if appropriate, she said.